“Somebody that opens up a platform like Z-Library is not responsible for what third parties put up on a site until someone tells them what’s up there,” Tapia said. While some believe that Z-Library is at fault for hosting pirated works, Tapia claims that it is up to copyright owners to police who is using their content.

Steven Tapia, a distinguished practitioner in residence at the Seattle University School of Law says that it is often unclear that content on these websites is up illegally.

Many of the books and articles on the websites are pirated and not legally allowed to be circulated by websites like Z-Library. The reason shadow library sites are not more mainstream is the illegal nature of the distributed content. “Textbooks are really expensive, and sometimes not available in the library,” Arun said. For many students like Tarunika Arun, a first year pre-business major, a shadow library is a great way to get resources needed for classes without having to spend lots of money.

Shadow libraries are sites used to share files for content that is normally behind a paywall, such as academic journal articles or textbooks. In an event that has been called the modern day burning of the Library of Alexandria, the popular online shadow library Z-Library has had their domains seized by federal agencies.

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